Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Caramelized Rye Bread Ice Cream (Condensed Milk Ice Cream)

Here's a super-simple ice cream with an Estonian twist. The caramelized rye bread lends a lovely slightly gritty texture (and I mean it in a wholly positive way) to the otherwise super-creamy ice cream, as well as a slightly earthy-tangy flavour.

The recipe works both with ice cream machine and without one - I've given instructions for both ways. Most importantly, there's no tricky custard-making bit, as the ice cream uses condensed milk as its base (that also means there's no danger of curdling :))

Here in Estonia, I simply buy a bag of ready-grated rye bread and caramelize it with some sugar. You can obviously use stale rye bread (preferably naturally leavened type), and grind it yourself. Or perhaps even try with those rye crisp breads (knäckerbröd) that are pretty universally available, smashing them into fine powder before proceeding.

K. isn't a great fan of ice cream, but he asked for this one after every single meal we had last weekend :)

First, fry the grated bread and some sugar on a dry hot pan for a few minutes, stirring regularly, until caramelized. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

If using an ice cream machine: pour the condensed milk and cream into a measuring jug and stir thoroughly. (* You can use half whipping/double cream and half single cream, when churning the ice cream in a machine). Pour into your ice cream maker and churn into ice cream according to the instructions. When almost done, fold in the cool caramelized rye bread, stir thoroughly. Pour the ice cream into freezer-proof container and place into the freezer for an hour or two before serving.

If you're not using an ice cream machine: whip the cream until soft peaks form. Pour in the condensed milk and whisk for another minute or two, until thoroughly combined. Fold in the caramelized rye bread mixture. Pour into freezer-proof container and place into the freezer for about 4-6 hours, until the mixture is frozen. As you're using whipped cream, there's no need to stir the ice cream during the freezing process.

Sounds interesting. We have a hazelnut ryebread yoghurt in Finland, which is actually pretty good, the favorite yoghurt of many people (including some foreigners I know who've bought it without knowing what it is).

I also like eating mämmi with ice cream (mämmi being a Finnish Easter dessert made of rye flour and malt).

What a lovely simple ice cream! It sounds rather like the old-fashioned brown bread ice cream favoured by the Victorians, but I imagine the rye adds a lovely extra nuttiness, especially when caramelised like this.

I tried this ice-cream yesterday, just supplemented it with slightly roasted pine nuts. It was sooooo fantastic, that I had to hide it from my husband as he was ready to eat it all, not leaving anything for my mum's birthday party today :D Thank you for this wonderful and super easy recipe!